New Services Roundup: RingCentral, Windstream, Video Conferencing

New and updated video conferencing services abounded last month.

All kinds of video conferencing providers made our latest roundup of new products and services. We continue to see updates around Microsoft Teams, as more and more carriers build integrations with the service. Unified communication and collaboration provider Lifesize updated its portfolio following an acquisition. We even covered Amazon Chime, which a cable company is offering as part of a promotion. And of course there’s Zoom, which expanded its Phone offering.

We also covered UCaaS, including a solution RingCentral plans to roll out with Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise.

Each month we recap the top news from a products and services perspective. Check out the 12 mini-stories below to learn about the newest offerings channel partners can sell.

Missed our previous new services roundup? Here’s the July edition.

Fusion Connect

The company announced a partnership with Fortinet around SD-WAN.

Fusion Connect teamed up with VMware VeloCloud back in 2017 and is still using the SD-WAN platform. However, it recently added Fortinet to add more flexibility, especially in the area of security.

Learn about why Fusion added a second SD-WAN partner.

RingCentral

The UCaaS provider teamed up with Acatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE) for a co-branded offering.

The companies will roll out Rainbow Office powered by RingCentral in the first quarter of 2020. The deal helps RingCentral continue its growth, in addition to accelerating ALE's cloud business.

"For our customers and partners, this strategic partnership enables us to offer them a wider choice of technology-leading cloud solutions ... ” Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise CEO Jack Chen said.

RingCentral has also announced strategic partnerships with Avaya and Atos in the last year.

Read about the partnership.

RingCentral/Poly

That's not the only RingCentral announcement we covered last month.

The company also integrated its Rooms services into the Poly Studio X30 and Poly Studio X50 video bars. Moreover, the vendor has improved options for intelligence, analytics and manageability.

RingCentral's vice president of global partner programs said health care, financial services and education will particularly benefit from the new offering.

Get more info about the partnership.

Microsoft

Microsoft launched an upgraded version of Teams.

The new Teams Advanced Communications offering can host up to 1,000 interactive video meeting participants. The upgrade, which Microsoft announced at Enterprise Connect Virtual, matches Zoom's capability to host a massive number of users. Microsoft's normal Teams function only hostss up to 300 people.

Jeff Schwartz covered the computing giant's news.

Ribbon

Ribbon Communications supports Microsoft Teams Direct Routing with its new service.

The company unveiled Ribbon Connect, which runs in Microsoft Azure cloud and links phone lines, numbers and calling plans to Teams. Moreover, it will help partners quickly get to market with a Teams support offering.

Learn more.

Lifesize

The unified communications and collaboration company is adding digital whiteboard capabilities thanks to a purchase.

Lifesize bought Kaptivo, and in turn, launched a new digital whiteboard app. Lifesize had partnered with Kaptivo over the years as an integrator and reseller. But now the acquisition will improve the quality of video meetings, due in part to the whiteboard application.

Learn about the acquisition's implications.

Comcast 

Comcast Business partners can check out the Amazon Web Services video conferencing solution.

Partners can add a free trial of Amazon Chime Pro to their Comcast bill through Oct. 31. Chime comes with voice, video and chat features, and partners can sell it in three different service plans.

See details of the agreement.

Vonage

Vonage integrated its contact center platform with Microsoft Office 365 Dynamics.

The integration improves agents' access to customer insights for a better customer experience and improved agent productivity. It also solves problems for customers that operate hybrid, multivendor or legacy environments.

Read the story.

Ooma

The UC and VoIP provider launched a cloud-based phone service.

Ooma Office Wi-Fi simplifies wireless networking for SMBs, according to the company. Extreme Networks is partnering with Ooma to provide the service.

"Partners can become a one-stop shop offering cloud-based phone service through Ooma Office or Ooma Office Pro," Ooma's director of channels said. 

Edward Gately has the scoop.

Zoom

The illustrious video conferencing services company now reaches a total of 40 regions with its Phone offering.

The vendor extended Zoom Phone to several South American, European and Asian companies. Voicemail transcription and three-way calling are two of the service's features.

Check out Kelly Teal's story to learn about the expansion.

Windstream/Ciena

The carrier is enlisting Ciena's help for one of its new networks.

Ciena is using its various software platforms to help build Windstream's national converged optical network (NCON). The network responds to demand for more bandwidth and performance analytics.

“NCON provides a differentiated network our customers and partners are looking for today, especially by enabling spectrum services, bandwidth flexibility, and performance analytics, including L0 and L1,” a Windstream executive said.

Edward Gately covered the agreement.

Windstream

In other Windstream news, the company bolstered its SD-WAN portfolio. 

The carrier launched a virtual network function (VNF) form a of a next-generation Fortinet firewall that will protect its VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN solution. Windstream uses both VMware and Fortinet for SD-WAN but hopes its latest announcement will simplify network security deployment for the former.

The mid-enterprise will particularly appreciate the update, Windstream’s head of security products said.

Get details on the update.